A Chronicle of Hafiz Kashem's Years in Hogwarts, Year One
by Voldemort's Best Man
Summary: Alternate 5th Year. Albus Dumbledore has contacted his international connections to aid with the coming War with Voldemort.
1. Chapter 1

The night before Hogwarts started was Chaos itself at 12 Grimmauld Place. With so many disorganized students (and Hermione) packing to leave early tomorrow, the whole house was thrown into a tumult with everyone trying to relocate their necessities after a summer of disarray.

Ultimately, Mrs. Weasley had to force everyone to the dinner table for Ron and Hermione's celebratory feast. It wasn't everyday that one was named Prefect, after all!

Sirius and Remus were talking about the pranks that had resulted in James not making Prefect in their fifth year, and their reminiscing had everyone around them in hysterical fits, and Harry feeling a lot better than he was a little earlier.

"So in fourth year, James and Sirius decided it would be a good idea to try and convince Minerva that she had been sleep-walking in her cat form by leaving a trail of fish bones from the Kitchen to her Quarters every night."

Before Remus could finish, they heard the front door opening and two voices talking.

"The next time you are in London, you really must take some time to explore- it truly is a wonderful City. I know it quite well, thanks to a scar on my upper knee that is very conveniently shaped like the Muggle Underground system map."

"Absolutely, Professor! I've been dreaming of visiting London since I was very young, I hope you wouldn't find it too presumptuous if I asked you for advice on where to go?"

"Not at all, my boy!"

Everybody at the dinner table looked up to see two of the unlikeliest travel companions stride into the parlour connected to the dining room. Albus Dumbledore, dressed in his usual resplendent robes, was making small talk with a boy dressed in simple Muggle clothes.

This was the first time Harry had seen Dumbledore since his trial, and he couldn't help but resent the boy accompanying Dumbledore and the easy camaraderie that they shared. Dumbledore seemed to have a problem even looking at him, recently.

The boy smiled at the table, and took a quick look around the room. His eyes first stopped near the centre of the table, "Congratulations, Ron, Hermione" with a large smile and a nod to each.

Ron looked a little confused, but Hermione smiled back and muttered a quick thanks.

"Have we met before?", Ron asked.

"No, sorry- I read the banner and thought it would be impolite to interrupt your party without at least a greeting." the boy smiled.

"But how did you know who we were?"

"Oh! I hope I haven't incorrectly identified you? The two of you were sitting at the centre, and the cake is between you so I assumed. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

Hermione smiled broadly at the stranger, "No, you were right! I'm Hermione and this is Ron."

Mr. Weasley and Sirius stood up and looked enquiringly at Dumbledore while Mrs. Weasley waved her wand to summon two chairs, two plates and two sets of cutlery to the table. "Headmaster, won't you and your guest join us for dinner?"

"Thank you Molly, that would be lovely. I do have an introduction and an announcement to make once we are done with dinner, and I would loathe missing an opportunity to miss your wonderful cooking."

"Thank you, Ma'am! The dinner smells wonderful." The boy smiled at first at the matronly woman who seemed to be the hostess of the event, and then the rest of the table, "Good evening! Sorry to interrupt your celebration."

A number of hearty denials propagated through the table, as the boy sat down and said "Looking forward to properly being introduced to you after we have enjoyed this incredible feast!" This statement solicited a broad smile from Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione couldn't help but study the boy as he ate. There was something very curious about him, he was obviously very hungry- but he didn't eat with any haste (unlike that vacuum cleaner, Ron), maintaining a cool grace as he worked through his now-filled (thanks to Mrs. Weasley) plate. What was most interesting to Hermione though; his use of cutlery was thoroughly unorthodox. His clothes, his posture, his veneer- it all spoke of Upper Class etiquette lessons similar to ones that she had attended as a child. He was using his Soup spoon and his Dinner fork to work through the pile on his plate. Using the right cutlery was a very strongly reinforced part of her etiquette class, and something she couldn't help but remember and follow to this day. It wasn't a very big deal, she knew, but it seemed a very curious dichotomy to her.

On the other side of the table, Sirius was very intrigued too. The dark-skinned boy was dressed in a black dress shirt, grey trousers and a very elegant overcoat. His clothing was not overly attention-grabbing, but it was quite obviously tailor made for him. It wasn't the Muggle clothes that caught his attention, however. On the index finger of his left hand, he was wearing one of the Family Rings of the Order of the Lotus! The Order of the Lotus was an Ancient Intercontinental Alliance of some of the oldest and most powerful magical families in the world across all the inhabited continents. The terms of the Alliance state that all families that are part of the Order are honour bound provide sanctuary and shelter to any member of any other family in the Order, if they should so require. It was created about six centuries ago to facilitate traveling and the pursuit of new knowledge across the magical elite in various societies and locales. The Order was vastly selective, and had not allowed any new families to join since its initial set up. Sirius knew that the Blacks were the only family in Britain that was part of the Order, but for this boy to be part of a family affiliated with the Order too was a very big deal. He might not have believed in the greatness of Ancient Families, but some people certainly did.

Everyone rushed through dinner (with compliments for Molly from Dumbledore and the boy for each dish they tasted) and the cake to get to the introductions quickly.

Post-dinner, as every one stood to head into the parlour- the boy said to Ron, who looked a little disgruntled at not being the centre of attention any longer, "Sorry to have interrupted your party."

Ron brightened up a little, "Don't worry about it, mate. Not to be rude, though- who are you?"

"Hafiz Kashem, nice to officially meet you." He offered his hand to Ron, who hesitated a split-second before taking it.

They were interrupted by a serene but powerful voice cutting over everyone else's, "I would like to introduce you all to a son of one of my dearest friends, Abdul Kashem, the Minister of Magic of the United Indian Subcontinent Ministry of Magic, Hafiz. He will be transferring to Hogwarts from the Jewel Aich school of Magic in Dhaka this year."

"I didn't know Hogwarts had a transfer program, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"We do indeed, Miss Granger. The concept was introduced to Hogwarts when I became Headmaster in 1947, and we used to get a lot of transfer students from the smaller Eastern European Magic schools. Do you remember Igor Karkaroff from Durmstrang?"

Hermione nodded quickly.

"He transferred from a Ukrainian magic school to finish his last four years of schooling at Hogwarts. However, the transfer program did lose its popularity concurrently with Voldemort's first rise to Power." He then looked around at the audience and said, " Mr. Kashem was sorted earlier this evening by the Sorting Hat into Ravenclaw and he will be sitting the OWL's with this year's fifth year." Looking at Hafiz and then at the students around him, "Messrs Potter, Weasley and Miss Granger will be your classmates this year." Harry noted that this seemed to be the first time the Headmaster had actually looked in his direction since the Triwizard Tournament finished. The Headmaster then proceeded to introduce the others present to Hafiz. As the introductions finished, he announced to the room, "If the members of the Order of the Phoenix would just stay back for a moment, there is some further information to share with you."

The Hogwarts students (except Hafiz) correctly identified that as a dismissal and rose up to leave. "Professor, as everyone here will be my Schoolmates from tomorrow- shouldn't they know the full reason I am here?" Hafiz suddenly said. "I don't think there is anything really sensitive about that information, is there Sir?" Harry felt a lot of the resentment he felt for the new arrival disappear with that statement. Finally, after a summer of keeping things from him, someone had finally stood up to Dumbledore on his behalf.

Dumbledore seemed to mull this over for a few moments before he finally stated, "You have a point, Mr. Kashem. Would you mind if I did the explanations, or would you like to do it?"

"Of course not, Professor!"

"Very well, then. About forty years ago, I received the first application to enter Hogwarts from Bengal. We had taken foreign students in before, of course, but we had never had a coloured student studying at Hogwarts- I was absolutely thrilled, but the Ministry was far more uncomfortable about the situation. They were adamant that a coloured student didn't fit with Hogwarts Identity as a British or even European Institution for Magical learning. They refused to allow this young Bengali student in to the country."

"I was absolutely appalled by this- to refuse a candidate because of the colour of their skin, the very idea is repulsive, is it not? I found this attitude so abhorrent, I said that I would step down as Headmaster of Hogwarts and as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and leave Magical Britain in search of a more tolerant society. You must understand that the war, and the principles of discrimination that drove it weighed very heavily on me- I had had enough."

"Fortunately enough for me, the fall of Grindelwald was still quite fresh in the minds of the British magical population- if I were to leave my positions in Magical Britain as a result of disagreements with the Ministry, it would have reflected very badly on the Minister and his team. They backed down, and Hogwarts had it's first coloured student in 1954. It is not quite my achievement, but it is still an achievement I take a lot of pride in for what little role I had in it."

"However, I digress. The student, Abdul Kashem, started at Hogwarts that year and consistently placed at the Top of his Year for all Seven Years that he was there. He and I had formed a close mentor-mentee relationship during his time at Hogwarts, and he asked for my recommendation to St. Mungo's when he went to start his healer traineeship. He stayed in London for a few years to finish his traineeship, and then moved back to his home country to become one of the world's most renowned Healers. I was incredibly proud of this young man who had shared his dream of a more open magical society with me over numerous lemon drops in my office. "

"I had been in constant correspondence with him, but we were both too busy to really make time to visit one another. We would not see each other again until 1968. The circumstances that we met under were not pleasant, though."

"It was the years before Voldemort first came into the open, nothing was visibly wrong- but a feeling of unease and dread had come over the Magical population. There were many unexplained disappearances, and a lot of odd behavior through the country. I had just turned down the man that was to become Lord Voldemort a job teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts."

At this, most of the room that had been deathly quiet, rapt in attention erupted in exclamations of shock. "Voldemort applied to teach?!" Harry asked.

"Indeed he did. He was extremely displeased to have been rejected, but I did not find out exactly how displeased he was until a few months later. One day, out of the blue I started feeling unwell. Not very unwell, but noticeably so- convinced that it would pass, I ignored it. A few days later, as it consistently got worse- my curiosity was piqued. I had not really ever been sick before. I asked our then new Matron of the Hospital Ward, Madame Pomfrey to test me for any abnormalities. She took a sample of my blood and noticed that it seemed to be very gradually but completely unnaturally getting thicker and more viscous in the time that she examined it. It did not seem like the effects of any illness or poison that she had known, so she treated a small sample of blood with blood thinners before she tried to administer them on me- and it was very fortunate that she did. The blood thinning potions resulted in a drastic speeding up of the thickening process until the blood turned solid. While, medically, I was no better off- mentally, this confirmed to me that I had been poisoned somehow. This greatly interested me because I did usually cast diagnostic charms on my food, just to make sure nobody tricks me into eating anything vomit flavoured again, you understand. My diagnostic charms did usually check for different kinds of poison and poisonous ingredients as a useful side-effect. For it to not have showed up on my checks suggested a deal of ingenuity in creating a brand new poison with completely innocuous ingredients that I had only witnessed in one person. While I was never able to prove it substantially, I remain confident that Lord Voldemort was responsible for that poisoning effort."

Again Dumbledore took a small break to let the excitement his story had created in the room settle.

"I did, however, find out how he managed to get the poison to me. Only the house elves at Hogwarts are allowed to handle the food that leaves our kitchens- and their checks are even more stringent than mine. It was clear that the Hogwarts elves had been compromised, and I am ashamed to admit that before that incident- I had never really paid attention to the cooking and cleaning at Hogwarts. I was just satisfied that it was always done to a high standard. Once we were able to identify the source breach, we were able to find the elf responsible quite easily. This elf had been freed from her family, obliviated and then put under the Imperius curse. It was then forced to mix the untraceable poison into my food. You see, an elf bonded to a family cannot be put under the Imperius curse. That is part of their inherent magic. I assume Voldemort had made a family loyal to him free their elf to claim plausible deniability. It was brilliantly simple, and showed how well Voldemort knew about how Hogwarts worked. Any elf could come to work at Hogwarts once it passed a preliminary screening from the castle caretaker, and the security measures were woefully inadequate. I hardly think anyone thought an attack was going to come from house elves, so every elf that applied was usually accepted. Since then, though- I individually meet every elf looking to work at or bind itself to Hogwarts."

"Pardon me, I have been rambling again! Perhaps my age is catching up with me? So back to the story, I was attacked with a new poison- and my friends in the potioneering circles and I were all agreed on one thing, this new poison did not seem to have any identifiable ingredients- so it was far too dangerous to try to find an antidote without potentially aggravating the situation. My condition got steadily worse and soon I was convinced that the poison was going to claim my life. I had sent letters out to my considerable network to ask them about the unknown poison without mentioning any specifics. One of the people I had written to was Hafiz's father. Abdul, one of the most renowned Healers in the world at that time, had deduced from my letter that the poison had afflicted someone close to me. He had dropped everything and got himself to Hogwarts as soon as possible to make himself available to me. Once he got here, I decided that I could trust him with my condition- and was soon caught in a very charged debate about the actions of the poison. He deduced that as the poison acted purely on blood and simply using replenishment potions would just allow the poison more room to grow. In the end, he had deduced that the only way to save my life would be to drain all the blood from my body first, and then immediately put in a mixture of blood from donors and replenishment potions to replace the poisoned blood. He told me that there were maybe two other Healers in the world that could get the stasis spell to keep me and my organs absolutely inactive during the procedure just right. Even with the stasis spell, he said, the procedure would have to be completed incredibly quickly to make sure my organs didn't shut down. He then offered himself for this procedure, if I trusted him enough. Now, I did trust him- do not get me wrong- but I was certain that the process was impossible. I did not want my friend, a boy I had come to think of as a surrogate son, want to think himself responsible for my death and was initially hesitant to let him operate on me. Eventually, I saw that he would not forgive himself if he did not at least try to save me so I gave him permission to operate on me with the condition that he would under no circumstances, blame himself for my death. I went into the operation with all my affairs settled; fully expecting to never see the light of day again."

"When I awoke after the operation, I saw Abdul waiting for me by my bed with tears in his eyes. He had saved my life, and I would forevermore be in his debt. He would hear nothing of it, and merely said that it was his duty to someone who he had come to regard as a second father."

"Three years later, he ran for Minister of the United Indian Subcontinent Ministry of Magic and won by a landslide. He has now been Minister for 24 years, and under his management- the United Indian Subcontinent Ministry has become the best run, wealthiest and most powerful Ministry in the World. The only stain in his reputation comes from the fact that their team has never qualified for the Quidditch World Cup." Dumbledore shot an amused glance at Hafiz with that last statement.

"After Voldemort returned last summer, I sent him a letter immediately. He pledged his full support but said that he could not officially act until the British Ministry asked for assistance-but as they refused to acknowledge that Voldemort was back- they would hardly be asking for help. He did suggest a compromise, though. He could not act in an official capacity, but he could act in a personal one. By sending one of his sons to Hogwarts, fully in line with his son's wishes-just in case you were wondering-he would have a valid reason for interacting with the British Ministry and to reinforce the local embassy with some of his best Aurors. With these considerations, it was decided that Hafiz would complete his fifth year at Hogwarts- with an Auror force stationed at Hogsmeade at 'his' beck-and-call for his protection. Hafiz and his Auror force, thanks to the political clout of his father, are here with full sanctioning from the British Ministry."

This was the longest that Harry had ever heard Dumbledore speak and he had to admit that the Headmaster was a gifted storyteller. During his whole story, Harry had been on the edge of his seat. Dumbledore must have been one hell of a teacher! He was brought out of his reverie by a question from Hermione. "What happened to the Imperiused elf, Professor?"

Everybody shared vaguely guilty glances at having forgotten the plight of the poor elf. "The elf, who asked to be called Biddy-although we have no way of knowing if that was her actual given name- had been sent to St. Mungo's to help clear her of the Imperius. Once she was cleared off the curse, she was inconsolable. Her healers said that she had sunk to self-destructive tendencies and requested me to come and speak to her. Understanding, rationally, that it was my fault that the poor elf had been in this condition, I agreed. Once I arrived and saw her, she broke down into loud tears apologizing for what she had done. She said she had no right to continue to sully the good names of house elves everywhere and she asked me for the boon of ending her life in retribution for the attempt on mine."

"She had no family and no purpose, and her life seemed to be heading towards a very destructive end. She then forced me into making one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, but also one I have never regretted since that day."

At Hermione's shocked expression, Dumbledore continued "No Miss Granger, I did not carry out Biddy's request. I asked if it would be suitable for her to bond to me and my family in retribution for what she perceived as her crime. She was ecstatic, but I will be honest- I believe in Second Chances, but actually granting one is far more difficult than it appears to be. I knew she was not to blame for my woes, but it was very difficult to let go of the lingering resentment to invite her to bond with me. I knew it was the right thing to do, so I buried my feelings and made the offer. Biddy was the most loyal elf that I could ask for, and not having been used to being the exclusive pampering of a house elf- it was a wonderful experience. She made sure that she tasted every meal that I had consumed from that day on to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. It was one of the best decisions I had made."

Hermione's expression changed from shocked to one of disapproval, Harry noticed- but she didn't say anything else.

"I don't think I have to tell anyone that this information, while not classified or even very sensitive, should not be shared freely. We are all doing all we can to stop Voldemort, and we must not reveal our cards too early. I hope you will not mind one extra tenant this evening and one extra passenger going with you to King's Cross, Sirius and Arthur? "

"Not at all." both men supplied.

"If that is all, I will take your leave tonight. Children, I will see you tomorrow at the feast. Hafiz, make sure you get a good night's sleep- you've had a very long day." Dumbledore then addressed the rest of the room," I will see you this Thursday, at the usual time. Good night, everyone." With that he nodded and strode out of the parlour and the house.

Molly allowed no further interrogation of Hafiz and showed him to a medium sized room that had very recently been made habitable for him to spend the night. He fell asleep almost immediately.

In the mean time, the other Hogwarts students converged in Harry and Ron's room to discuss the events of the evening.

"I don't know, he seems like a bit of a ponce- doesn't he? Always smiling at everyone and everything. " Ron started, "And he's a Minister's son- I'll bet you anything that he turns out a spoilt brat like Malfoy."

"I don't know, Ron. He seemed very polite." Hermione said."_And charming_." She didn't say.

"Didn't you notice how he interrupted and overruled Professor Dumbledore?"

"That's not what happened, Ron, and you know it." Ginny said, "You seemed very cold to him this evening, why?"

"I'm not really sure, there's something about him that keeps reminding me of Malfoy!"

"Maybe it's the fact that he's so handsome?" Ginny asked innocently.

"GINNY!" Fred, George and Ron all exclaimed together, while Harry and Hermione were torn between amusement at the reaction of Ginny's brothers and disgust at considering Malfoy handsome. Their discussions about how attractive Malfoy was went on for a few more minutes and left every one so tired they decided to turn in for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Harry and Ron woke up to find Remus and Sirius in an energetic discussion with Hafiz at the breakfast table.

"So, if you haven't had a trial- then your incarceration became illegal after the 100th day of you jailing under ICW law. Didn't Professor Dumbledore point this out?"

"He did, but he also said that the ICW does not have extra-judicial powers to act in lieu of the actual governments that it represents. The ICW could contest my incarceration, but at the end of the day- it would mean nothing. It doesn't even have a Auror body to verify the claims made. Fudge wouldn't even have to agree on a trial, I am to be Kissed on sight."

"If you were tried by another Ministry that is represented in the ICW, do you think that would make a difference?"

Both Remus and Sirius' faces lit up at the hidden suggestion in the question asked. "You know, it absolutely would. As long as the trial is hosted by another Ministry but has ICW representation to ensure fairness of the trial it should create enough international uproar to get me acquitted of all charges."

"I'll speak to my father about it now, I hope he's not too busy."

"Is he here? How are you going to speak to him?"

"No, he's still in Dhaka- but we have a set of rings with the Protean and the Sonorus Charms on them for every member of the family so that we can speak to each other. My mother set it out as a condition for me to come to Hogwarts that I had to speak to her atleast thrice a day." Hafiz admitted a bit sheepishly.

"That's brilliant! We had similar charms done on some mirrors to communicate through detentions. Do you still have your mirror, Sirius?"

"No, I broke mine when James and I were in Auror training and Moody got a little carried away with his practice curses- but that does remind me, Harry- I enchanted a new pair of mirrors for you and I yesterday. Just in case you need someone to talk to, about anything- I am around. Don't ever think otherwise. Don't forget to take your mirror with you when you leave for Hogwarts." He then looked back at Hafiz, "Maybe I'll take a page out of your mother's book and ask for three calls a day, too! It gets lonely in this filthy house!" Everyone laughed, but could sense an undercurrent of truth under Sirius' joking.

Harry, who had just woken up, and had not taken any part in the conversation so far suddenly felt every eye on him. He did not think anyone had noticed that he and Ron had come into the room. He felt his heart warm up and a surge of affection for his Godfather. He felt his eyes wet a little, was this what it was like to have a parent?

"One thing before you go to speak to your father, Hafiz. Is that an Order of the Lotus ring you're wearing?"

"Yes, my father actually enchanted these rings to work as communication devices- because no one but a family member can wear our Order of the Lotus rings without having their fingers cut off. Why do you ask?"

"The Blacks are a family of the Order of the Lotus too."

"What's the Order of the Lotus, Sirius?" Ron asked.

"It's an Ancient Alliance of families that was built around the concept of providing a support structure for high born travelers and scholars when they travelled to new countries and places. It was meant to guarantee safety and promote the spread of magical knowledge and cooperation. There are some families that still strictly believe in the code of hospitality that the Order was formed on."

"I think I understand what you're getting at, let me speak to my father." With that, Hafiz headed out of the room.

"Harry, let me show you how the mirrors work. Kreacher!" Sirius called.

"Filthy master called?" Kreacher said, with a mock bow.

In the morning's excitement, Sirius had forgotten his antipathy towards Kreacher and asked "Would you get the two mirrors on the nightstand by my bed, please?"

Looking shocked at being spoken to politely by his "filthy master", Kreacher nodded and disapparated. He was back within ten seconds with the two mirrors, "Will you be needing anything else, Master?"

"No thank you, Kreacher- I will call if I need you." Kreacher bowed and disapparated again, and Harry noticed that the bow didn't seem as forced or sarcastic as the last time.

Sirius handed him a mirror and told him, "Just say my name into the mirror."

"Sirius Black."

Harry's mirror suddenly lit up and showed Sirius grinning at him. He looked at the actual Sirius and was surprised to see his own face on Sirius' mirror. He certainly never thought he would be surprised to see his own unaltered face on a mirror! How interesting magic was sometimes!

"Is that all you have to do? That's amazing, why didn't we use this last year?" Harry exclaimed.

"Well, Pup- I think you're not fully appreciating how complex this magic is." Sirius chided, but with an amused tone. "But quite honestly, I had forgotten about our mirror system."

"Pup?"

"It was my nickname for you when you were a toddler. Remus called you Cub, and James called you Little Deer. It took us quite a while to get that awful pun, let me tell you!"

A few minutes later, Hafiz came back into the room to find all his fellow students at breakfast. He called out a greeting to the new arrivals and got food muffled greetings in response. He turned to Sirius,"My father said he would contact you and Professor Dumbledore directly, he thinks he might be able to do something about your situation- but he will need to speak to you and the Professor first."

Sirius' face seemed to deage as he smiled broadly, "Thanks Hafiz! It's really nice to have something to be hopeful about, for a change."

Hafiz spent the rest of breakfast asking questions of the Weasleys about their last few years at Hogwarts. By the time everyone was ready to head out of Grimmauld Place and walk to King's Cross, he knew the Weasley children quite well.

Sirius argued that he should be able to walk them to the station in his dog form but was convinced not to come on to the platform, because of the increased risk of getting identified by Death Eaters who would indubitably be informed of Padfoot's animagus form. In the end, Remus and Sirius agreed to only walk the group to the Muggle portion of the station.

During the walk, Hermione found herself alongside Hafiz. She saw him very eagerly question herself about her life, but seemed quite guarded about his own. He had asked her about her parents (he had heard she was Muggleborn yesterday), what they did, their reaction to magic and a score of other things about Post-Hogwarts life that Ron, Harry or any other of her friends had never asked her. Only when they had reached the station did she realize that in conversation, nothing about Hafiz's own life had been brought up. Every time she was going to ask Hafiz something about himself, the topic seemed to have changed to an offshoot of something else she mentioned. It really was quite nice to have someone pay attention to you when you talk, she thought!

Once they reached Platform 9, Remus loudly announced that he would now head off home and promised Harry he would take good care of Snuffles while he was at school. After the goodbyes with Remus and Snuffles, they headed into the platform where they had another set of lengthy goodbyes with the rest of the entourage.

Once on the train, Ron and Hermione headed to the Prefect's compartment while Ginny, Harry and Hafiz ran into Neville and found a compartment together. The compartment was empty except a solitary blonde girl reading a magazine upside down.

"Hi Luna! Mind if we sit with you?", Ginny asked the girl.

"No, please- sit down." The girl called Luna smiled.

"Guys, this is Luna Lovegood- a fellow fourth year, and a childhood friend. Luna, meet Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom and Hafiz Kashem."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Lovegood.", Hafiz smiled at Luna.

"Thank you, Mr. Kashem." Luna replied in a sing-song voice, "Do you think you could call me Luna, or Loony- if you prefer? Miss Lovegood makes me sound like a pin-up lady from Playwitch magazine." She finished, completely serenely.

Neville blushed while Harry and Ginny burst out laughing. Hafiz smiled, "Of course Luna, but only if you call me Hafiz. Why would I prefer to call you Loony, though?"

"Most people seem to prefer Loony to Luna, so I just thought you would too. Are you related to the Kashems of Bengal by any chance?"

"I am, indeed. How do you know of my family?"

"My mother spent six months with your family when she graduated out of Durmstrang thirty years ago when she was travelling the world researching spellcasting. I read about your family in her journal."

"I'll ask my father and my grandmother about her, what's her name?"

"Her name was Pandora Kokinos, she was an extraordinary witch." Luna's large, bright eyes filled with sadness.

Judging that it wasn't a very happy topic for her, Hafiz tried to change the topic. "Well, it's absolutely wonderful to meet someone we share family history with! Are you a Gryffindor too, like Ginny?"

"No, Ravenclaw. Wit beyond measure is Man's greatest treasure."

"I'm a Ravenclaw too! I transferred in from a school in Bengal to sit my OWL's here. Lucky us, getting sorted into the best house at Hogwarts!" He shot a cheeky grin to the three Gryffindors in the carriage who let out mock exclamations of displeasure.

Luna then looked at Harry and Neville, "I know you, Harry Potter-" Harry looked a bit uncomfortable, "but I don't know of you, Neville Longbottom. Who are you?" Luna asked serenely.

If anyone else had asked the question, it may have sounded deriding but from Luna it sounded like the most natural and friendly things to ask.

"I'm nobody." Neville said, with his head down.

"No you're not, Neville- don't say such stupid things! This is Neville Longbottom, herbologist extraordinaire." Ginny said.

"Really? Herbology is my favourite subject, after Care of Magical Creatures!"

That ice-breaker seemed to do wonders for Neville's confidence. He and Luna went into a world of their own as they described the most interesting plants they had come across to each other. Not wanting to disturb the two having an intimate conversation, Ginny turned to Hafiz, "So do you play Quidditch at all? Harry here is the best player in the whole school!"

Harry looked shocked that anyone thought he was the best player in the school while Hafiz answered, "Quidditch isn't really a very popular sport back home, probably because we've never qualified for a World Cup."

Harry had always thought Quidditch was universal in the wizarding world, so this brought him out of the silence he had been keeping since he got on the train. "So what sports are popular where you're from?"

"We play Broom Cricket, which is just Muggle Cricket- played on broomsticks."

Harry, who had been forced to wait on Uncle Vernon as he watched the abominably boring five day game, couldn't quite understand how the game would be played on broomsticks.

"How do you play Muggle Cricket on broomsticks?"

"Well, I assume you are aware of the rules of Muggle Cricket?" Harry nodded, Ginny shook her head.

"Well, cricket isn't really a simple game to explain- but I will try my best. There are two teams: the team bowling has 11 players on a circular field. The team batting always has two players on the field.

The captain of the bowling team chooses a bowler from his team; the other 10 players are called fielders. The bowler is trying to aim the ball at a wicket, which is made up of three sticks (called stumps) stuck into the earth, with two small sticks (called bails) balanced on them. One of the fielders, called the wicket keeper, stands behind the wicket to catch the ball if the bowler misses the wicket. The other fielders chase the ball after the batsman has hit it.

The bowler runs towards his wicket, and bowls towards the batsman at the other wicket. An 'over' is six balls meaning he bowls six times. Then another player becomes the bowler for the next over, and bowls from the other end, and so on. The same bowler cannot bowl two overs one after the other.

The batsman is trying to defend the wicket from getting hit with the ball. He or she does this with a bat. When he hits the ball with his bat, he may run toward the other wicket. To score a run, the two batsmen must both run from their wicket to the other wicket, as many times as they can. If the ball leaves the field after being hit without bouncing, six runs are scored. If the ball rolls or bounces out, whether or not the batter hit it, it counts as four runs.

There are different ways that a batsman can get out. The most common ways are:

The batsman misses the ball and it hits the wicket: called _bowled_.

The ball hits the batsman's body when it would have hit the wicket otherwise. Called _LBW_ (_leg before wicket_). The way this rule is applied is complicated; this is just the general idea.

A fielder catches the ball after the batsman hits it, and before it bounces or leaves the field: called _caught_.

While the batsmen are running, a fielder can throw the ball at the wicket. If the batsmen cannot finish the run, the batsman nearer to the wicket that is hit is out: called _run out_. With me so far?"

"I think so." Ginny replied.

Hafiz then looked at Harry and continued, "Well, now- the major differences with Broom Cricket and Muggle Cricket. Broom Cricket is played with players floating exactly 20 metres above a flat circular ground of 200 meters (about 660 feet) diameter, always. Two sensory charms are placed around the field, one at 66 feet (20 meters) and another at 50 feet (16 meters) above ground. The two batsmen are separated by 20 meters at the centre of the field, with two sets of floating wickets at each end of the 20 meters.

As the ball is bowled, the fielders can be anywhere on the field- but they have to be floating at exactly 66 feet above ground level, as do the batsmen- the sensory charm ensures that all players adhere to this. If there are any fielders not at exactly 66 feet then the ball is invalid and the batsmen get an extra run and a free hit at the ball with no consequences. Right?"

Harry nodded, and asked, "What's the sensory charm at 50 feet for?"

"Well, you remember that one of the ways you can get out as a batsman is to get caught? In Broom Cricket, the fielders have to catch the ball off the batsman's bat while it is still atleast 50 feet above ground level to get the batsmen out. To score four or six runs, the batsman has to clear the apple sized ball about 100 meters in any direction on the horizontal plane. Now, if the ball crosses the 100 meter boundary at above 50 feet- it is six runs for the batsmen. Below 50 feet, it counts as four runs. If the ball doesn't cross the boundary, then the fielders have to get to the ball and get it back to any set of wickets as quick as they can. Until they do, the batsmen are allowed to race in between the wickets on their brooms. Every time both batsmen complete a full race to the other set of wickets, it counts as a run- but if the fielders can hit a set of wickets with the ball while the batsmen are in between wickets, the batsman who is racing towards the wickets hit is considered out. There are many other rules that you would really get introduced to if you started playing the game, but I think those are the basics."

"That sounds a good deal more complex than Quidditch!" Ginny stated.

"It is, but it has quite a few overlapping skills required for Quidditch too. For example, a good chaser needs to be able to throw accurately, fast and sufficiently unpredictably- much like a bowler in Broom Cricket. The fielders have to go shooting after a small ball, like seekers have to do in Quidditch. The batsmen have to use their bats to send the ball into the places that fielders can't reach quickly, it is very much like what beaters do."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about Quidditch, do you follow it?"

"Not avidly, but enough to know the rules and some of the plays."

Suddenly, the compartment door opened. Hafiz noticed Harry rapidly put his hands in his trouser pockets, presumably on his wand. Seeing this, he made sure he had his wand with him as well. There was no cause for concern, however- it was only Ron and Hermione returning from their first prefect meeting.

They said their hellos and sat down, Hermione next to Ginny and Ron next to Luna. Hermione had just started complaining about how both Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy had made Prefect too when the door opened loudly and violently. Harry stood and had his wand pointed at the new entrants in a flash, and Hafiz, though still sitting, had his wand out too.

"Isn't someone a little trigger-happy these days, Potty?" drawled the voice of Draco Malfoy.


End file.
